"As more and more kids poured out of the vans that arrived on the first morning of the LitCamp, one boy in the crowd stood out. He sat apart from everyone, the only child without a bright blue T-shirt or a nametag. Instead of holding a book or a ball in his hands, he stood with over 15 hand woven placemats he needed to sell to support his family.

Like many of our campers, the boy, who introduced himself as Ronald, was recently relocated to the rural area outside of metro Manila from the slum in which he was born. Like many of our campers, Ronald was too young to work but working anyway. Like many of our campers, Ronald’s everyday life did not leave enough space for joy."